- orej@southwestern.edu
- 512.863.1364
- Fine Arts 115
John Ore
Professor of Theatre
Expertise
Lighting and Sound Design, Stage Management
John Ore has two parts to his life at SU. He is the Director of Technical Operations for the Sarofim School of Fine Art, supervising the ‘backstage’ technical theatre aspects of all the events in the Fine Art Center’s theaters . He also serves as professor for the Theatre Department. His primary teaching areas include lighting and sound design/technology and production stage management.
John received the Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, working with the resident (AEA) professional Clarence Brown Company as a part of his graduate work. John spent four years designing lights and supervising the Electrics shop at the Alley Theatre in Houston. He then served as Lighting Director/TD for two national tours, one of which included stops in Leningrad, Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities. Mr. Ore began teaching technical theatre at the University of Houston at Clear Lake, where he later became a member of Actors Equity union while working as production stage manager for the Houston Shaw Festival. A recipient of the coveted Mundy Award, John served as a Paideia professor during the first four years of this unique Southwestern academic initiative. John has also worked as a professional designer in the Austin area, with productions at the Zilker Summer Theatre, Zach Scott Theatre, Live Oak Theatre, among others.
Currently, his design energies are spent working with the Georgetown Ballet and Arts Avenue with SU students working in design/tech roles. He has also served as Director of the Tal Lostracco Summer Theatre Camp, an annual two-week residential high school drama camp. SU stage managers and designers often participate either as paid professionals or as students in Theatre Arts Management class. His other professional achievement centers on directing the Heather Hall Sustainability Project, which is nearing completion this academic year.
His teaching philosophy includes a healthy dose of introduction to the world of theatre production by incorporating the department’s current shows into the mix of diverse content. John also tries to provide a number of ways for students to succeed in his courses. His course writing assignments, script analyses, design projects and tests are plentiful and often weighted evenly. He demands active participation from everyone in the classroom and he enjoys differences of all kinds.
Affiliations:
Member: Actors Equity Association
Member: Texas Educational Theatre Association
One-Act Play Contest Critic Judge: University Interscholastic League- Theatre
Member: United States Institute of Theatre Technology
Member: Association of Theatre in Higher Education
Member: Southeastern Theatre Conference